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Featured Replies

Shit happens. But always thought we had failsafes on our own aircraft. Anyway, some ship Captain is heading to shore duty. Pilots are safe. New dive spot in the Red Sea for tourists to travel to. Navy folks want chime in? That is congested airspace no matter what.

 

Two U.S. Navy aviators are safe after their two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet was shot down by an American ship by mistake, according to a late Saturday statement from U.S. Central Command.

The Super Hornet, assigned to aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), was flying over the Red Sea when guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) fired upon it, according to the CENTCOM statement.

“Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries,” reads a statement from CENTCOM.
“This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway.”

 

https://news.usni.org/2024/12/21/u-s-super-hornet-shot-down-over-red-sea-in-friendly-fire-incident-aviators-safe

Makes me wonder if there's an electronic warfare aspect that would have interfered with the IFF systems, or caused the fire control officers to doubt what they were seeing. 

I imagine that's a hell of a congested and contested airspace

That is crazy with all the IFF unless the phalanx system went bad or something.  Enemy contact on radar.  Houthis dont have fucking FA-18 super hornets.

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1 minute ago, Captainant said:

Makes me wonder if there's an electronic warfare aspect that would have interfered with the IFF systems, or caused the fire control officers to doubt what they were seeing. 

I imagine that's a hell of a congested and contested airspace

Conspiracies are already flying. Well more than that aircraft is.

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4 minutes ago, Mother mopar said:

NJ calls those drones.

What the Super Hornets or the Navy AA stuff?

Damn. That seems like as big of a fuck up as I can remember. Especially downing a plane from your own strike group. I don't know fuck about shit when it comes to naval warfare, but I would think there would be a communications link between  any plane in that strike group and the weapons systems that would prohibit firing on your own plane.

Positives: the phalanx tracked and shot down a “target” in a live environment. Our pilots were able to eject and the rescue team located and retrieved them.  Pretty good training exercise all around, save the cost of a super hornet and a career or two. 

Are we sure the weapon was a phalanx? I have not seen that reported anywhere but here (yet).

19 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Positives: the phalanx tracked and shot down a “target” in a live environment. Our pilots were able to eject and the rescue team located and retrieved them.  Pretty good training exercise all around, save the cost of a super hornet and a career or two. 

The cost of training all the people that will be fired because of this might cost more than the plane

Stumbled on this thread...

I had to Google a shit ton of naval acronyms, and considering the source is reddit you have to figure some of it is bullshit, but many people chiming in with various refrains of ”the Gettysburg is a shitshow."

I bet the pilot just made his last joke about the second mate’s morally loose sister. 

6 minutes ago, pantone159 said:

Are we sure the weapon was a phalanx? I have not seen that reported anywhere but here (yet).

I'm guessing it was that and they didn't update their IFF for the day and the F18 flew into their vicinity.  Because if they actually launched a missile at the plane then that entire watch team needs to walk the plank.

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10 minutes ago, drt said:

The cost of training all the people that will be fired because of this might cost more than the plane

Maybe they need more training.

 

30 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Stumbled on this thread...

I had to Google a shit ton of naval acronyms, and considering the source is reddit you have to figure some of it is bullshit, but many people chiming in with various refrains of ”the Gettysburg is a shitshow."

If that’s true, it should be addressed. 

2 hours ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

Big time fuck up. Many people will be fired.  

They will be now. 

  • Popular Post

Meanwhile the entire US Army is looking at West Point saying, “You guys lost to these fucking clowns?!”

It was friendly fire, and I was never here 

IMG_3783.png

Lotta scuttlebutt in that /r/navy thread that the CIWS was left on auto, as they had recently been intercepting drones. Gonna be interesting whenever the report is released to see the weapon that engaged

How awkward would it be if it was the Gettysburg who fished the pilots out of the water.

3 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

I bet the pilot just made his last joke about the second mate’s morally loose sister. 

Penny Benjamin was an admiral's daughter, Kenny.

5 hours ago, FartingMonk said:

…the phalanx system went bad or something. 

 

IMG_5507.gif

Lotta scuttlebutt in that /r/navy thread that the CIWS was left on auto, as they had recently been intercepting drones. Gonna be interesting whenever the report is released to see the weapon that engaged

That is what I was thinking.
How awkward would it be if it was the Gettysburg who fished the pilots out of the water.

I would have had a hard time not getting physical with the skipper if I would have been in that situation.

From a friend of mine:

“I can give you a synopsis of the most likely Mishap Board Findings and they will be shockingly similar to the McCain and Fitzgerald mishaps.

Human error is a key factor.

Fatigue is a contributing factor.

Training and qualifications are a contributing factor.

In addition to these, culture of the ship and SWO community, especially as they relate to circadian rhythm, human factors, and experience should be closely examined.

There is a possibility for systems error here, but having been a TAO, there should have been very specific firebreaks in place in case of system failures with IFF that would have prevented positive ID of the aircraft which should have prevented this outcome.”

10 minutes ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:


I would have had a hard time not getting physical with the skipper if I would have been in that situation.

From a friend of mine:

“I can give you a synopsis of the most likely Mishap Board Findings and they will be shockingly similar to the McCain and Fitzgerald mishaps.

Human error is a key factor.

Fatigue is a contributing factor.

Training and qualifications are a contributing factor.

In addition to these, culture of the ship and SWO community, especially as they relate to circadian rhythm, human factors, and experience should be closely examined.

There is a possibility for systems error here, but having been a TAO, there should have been very specific firebreaks in place in case of system failures with IFF that would have prevented positive ID of the aircraft which should have prevented this outcome.”

Rumor is the Gettysburg got told to pack their shit and go home.    That's gotta be pretty embarrassing.

38 minutes ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

In addition to these, culture of the ship and SWO community, especially as they relate to circadian rhythm, human factors, and experience should be closely examined.

There is a possibility for systems error here, but having been a TAO, there should have been very specific firebreaks in place in case of system failures with IFF that would have prevented positive ID of the aircraft which should have prevented this outcome.”

Imagine if this was a few years down the road and they are dealing with drones in the water* and they pop a friendly submarine …and years down the road some college football board full of degenerates never gets its @blacklab

 

*they may already be dealing with waterborne drones

Edited by atomheartbevo

3 hours ago, Captainant said:

Lotta scuttlebutt in that /r/navy thread that the CIWS was left on auto, as they had recently been intercepting drones. Gonna be interesting whenever the report is released to see the weapon that engaged

That would be nuts, and could be fatigue.

I got to see a Patriot live-fire exercise fairly up close, and they had a lot of procedures in place, both to ensure they only hit what they needed to, but also to keep things powered down so they couldn’t be spotted. I want to say the automated stuff was simulated only (no missile fired), and that they were on the semi-automated mode (a person made the final decisions) when they did live-fire.

When you're not engaged in an active war you've gotta think outside the box to keep the pilots sharp.

7 hours ago, FartingMonk said:

How awkward would it be if it was the Gettysburg who fished the pilots out of the water.

Seems like it'd be the least they could do.

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1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

Seems like it'd be the least they could do.

Shhhhh, act like we don't see them. Those rat bastards will turn us in. Dammit Ensign, I said keep going.

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According to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (as of 2022), the SM-2 costs $2.1 million per unit

24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for $1.76 billion, which works out to $73.3 million per aircraft

Does the crew have to pay this back?

Even if you are 100% convinced that it's a combatant aircraft, we just shoot at shit during non-wartime? I imagine they skipped the step of trying to hail out to them.

4 hours ago, pantone159 said:

That is a Titanic fuck up if they really and truly fired off a missile. Like everyone in the chain of command on that vessel is gonna be made an example of

7 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

Shhhhh, act like we don't see them. Those rat bastards will turn us in. Dammit Ensign, I said keep going.

Hey, what are you guys doing out here?  Want a ride?  

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1 minute ago, Kennythetiger said:

Hey, what are you guys doing out here?  Want a ride?  

Then the crew puts each other in for medals?

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22 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

The Gettysburg is painting a F18 on the side of its hull as we speak.

Better than the Vincennes. Too soon?

I would be shocked if it was CIWS that engaged.  CIWS only engages threats with very specific flight profile and closing speed indexed to own ship.  It is a 100% self-defense weapon and cannot be used to engage targets headed towards other ships in company.  I highly doubt that a friendly F/A-18F would fly a path towards the CG that would meet engagement criteria for CIWS.  My Navy SWO speculation is that this smells a lot like VINCENNES incident where an operator had one contact hooked but was reading data for another contact and engaged with SM-2 based on the wrong data.    

On 12/22/2024 at 10:02 AM, FartingMonk said:

That is crazy with all the IFF unless the phalanx system went bad or something.  Enemy contact on radar.  Houthis dont have fucking FA-18 super hornets.

 

On 12/22/2024 at 10:59 AM, Pato del Muerto said:

Positives: the phalanx tracked and shot down a “target” in a live environment. Our pilots were able to eject and the rescue team located and retrieved them.  Pretty good training exercise all around, save the cost of a super hornet and a career or two. 

 

On 12/22/2024 at 11:15 AM, pantone159 said:

Are we sure the weapon was a phalanx? I have not seen that reported anywhere but here (yet).

 

21 hours ago, Captainant said:

Lotta scuttlebutt in that /r/navy thread that the CIWS was left on auto, as they had recently been intercepting drones. Gonna be interesting whenever the report is released to see the weapon that engaged

 

19 hours ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:


That is what I was thinking.

See above post.

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